Rockland — The Oceanside Boosters are capping off a year long fundraising campaign with the installation of new bleacher seats in the gym on the Oceanside East campus in Rockland.

The boosters raised much of the money through working parking lots, concession sales, and fundraising events. However, this has truly been a community effort thanks to the support of the Oceanside student body, local businesses, individual donations and folks just dropping change in the collection buckets at games.

Booster Vice President Robert Lacasse had the idea of the bleacher project last summer and the boosters went to work, starting with working parking lots during festival season last year. Students and parents got involved from the beginning, working shifts at parking lots, helping with the Mother's Day road race, raising money during spirit week and helping the boosters disassemble the old bleacher seats in preparation for the installation.

Along the way, several businesses donated to the cause with some sponsoring entire sections of seats, and others providing services to deliver the bleachers from the manufacturer.

"We still need to raise $5,000 by Aug. 1 to pay off the new bleachers," said Booster President Greg Billingsley July 17.

The officers of the Rockland Police Department donated specifically to the student section of the bleachers to show their support for the students in the community.

"There has been a lot of hard work and many many, people to thank." said Lacasse.

"We are just really excited to be able to bring the Oceanside, RSU 13, and the community together with this project," noted Billingsley.

"This year's senior class is the first Oceanside class to have completed all four years here, so this is a great time for this project. We have gotten so much support from the community, the administration and the students. It truly is a lasting and tangible project that reflects what we are all about," said Billingsley.

The Booster's mission is to boost and support Oceanside pride through improving facilities and helping to build programs. With this project they and the entire Oceanside community are doing that in a very big blue way.

To make donations to the bleacher fund, checks can be made payable to the Boosters and mailed to Oceanside High School, 400 Broadway, Rockland 04841. Donations can also be dropped off at the office or by visiting the Gofundme page gofundme.com/Oside-Bleacher-Project.

To get updates on the bleacher project installation, visit the Oceanside Boosters Blue Crew page on Facebook. For more information about the boosters or how you can get involved visit oceansideboosters.com.